Thread by @EveryDoctorUK

Why did we build a map of NHS privatisation + outsourcing? 🗺️💙💰

🧵 A thread:

Lots of people are (rightly) worried about #NHSPrivatisation, but they see it as something to avoid or prevent happening in the future.
The truth is - it's already here.

Privatisation has been...

...creeping into the NHS for 30 years.

This transfer of assets into private hands has landed the NHS in major debt, created a postcode lottery for patients & as published in the Lancet; led to an increase in ‘treatable mortality’(preventable deaths)...
thelancet.com/journals/lanpu…

...by introducing a profit motive, priorities are inevitably skewed. The sole focus of healthcare workers should be patient care, not profit margins.

Short term contracts also disrupt long-term caring relationships which are incredibly valuable, esp. for clinically complex...

...patients.

🚪 And it's happened behind closed doors

All independent providers use the NHS logo; so many patients don't even realise that the care they're receiving - while paid for by the NHS - isn't being delivered by it.
england.nhs.uk/nhsidentity/id…

And all this happened...

...without politicians being honest with us. Many deny #NHSPrivatisation by saying services are still "free at point of use".

But privatisation means much more than that. As a public health service we strongly believe it should be funded, run & delivered by the public sector...

...that's why we built this map; to show everyone what’s really happening.

Thanks to @humap_me_, a lot of research (there’s no comprehensive list like this out there), and thousands of wonderful people in our community emailing info & donating we launched stage 2 this week...

...our map now covers the whole of the UK.
Click & explore what’s happening where you live or take a look at differences around the country.

And if there's anything we've missed or got wrong you can also email us; [e-mail] because it’s a living document...

...stage 3 (🤞in 4-6 weeks) will add PFI data for NHS Trusts revealing the debt & yearly interest payments many hospitals are stuck with 💷 Money that could be spent on patients.

Much private borrowing stretches back 20 years.
More proof privatisation isn't anything new...

That's why our fight has always been to halt + *reverse* NHS privatisation.

But we can't have this 2nd part of the conversation until everyone (& we mean everyone - politicians from every party, healthcare leaders, press, NHS staff, think tanks & the public) is honest about...

...what's already going on.
That's why we built this map 👇👇👇
everydoctor.org.uk/nhs-privatisat…

Please take a look 🔎 Share it with everyone you know. And, if you can, join our fight with a small monthly donation today. Our members power everything we do 💙 everydoctor.org.uk/join-everydoct…